Quote for the Day 01May2009

This month shall be a month of new grace, new mercy, new hope, new favour, and new opportunity. May the LORD of mercy make everything new for you in this new month in Jesus’ name. Amen. – Bayo Afolaranmi

Quote for the Day 30Apr2009

Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. - Oswald Chambers

Quote for the Day 29Apr2009

More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see;
More of His love-who died for me!
- Eliza E. Hewitt

Quote for the Day 28Apr2009

God remembers us wherever we are. Our concerns are His concerns. Our pain is His pain. Commit your challenges and difficulties to Him. He is the all-seeing God who remembers us as a mother remembers her children, and He waits to meet our needs. - C. P. Hia

Quote for the Day 27Apr2009

Your life is not measured by your accomplishments, but rather by the people you have touched and the lives you changed. - Author Unknown

ARE YOU REMEMBERING TO COME BACK?

Dearly Beloved,

ARE YOU REMEMBERING TO COME BACK?

“When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice” (Luke 17:15 TEV).

Many people are only serving God for what they can get from Him. They can do anything possible in praying for His blessings. However, it has been difficult for them to really worship God for who He is. No wonder, they usually do not remember to thank Him for the goodness He has done, or is doing, in their lives. What an ungrateful set of people!

Such people are like nine out of ten men who were suffering from a dreaded skin disease that met Jesus Christ on His way to Jerusalem (Luke 17:12-19). These men beseeched Him to heal them from their disease. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests in anticipation that they would be healed before getting there. These men went in faith, and on their way, they were cured of their dreaded disease! Out of these ten men, only one counted it worthy to come back to Jesus Christ to praise God for what He has done. The other nine men went away ungrateful. Jesus Christ commended this grateful man and confirmed his faith that made him well. The man apparently received spiritual healing as well. His healing was total!

There are many reasons that make many people to hardly remember to come back to God to praise Him for the goodness He has done for them. Some people do not know that they should come back to God to thank Him. To some, it is not necessary to return all the glory to God. To some, the goodness is by chance. After all, God is blessing those people that do not ask for it. Nevertheless, such people are depriving themselves of more blessings from God. Interestingly, the proportion of people that remember to come back to thank God is almost one to nine like those ten cured men.

Are you like one of those nine ungrateful men or the one grateful man? Are you remembering to come back to God to express your gratitude for the goodness He has done for you? Are you serving Him for what you can get from Him, or worshipping Him for who He is? Remember to come back to thank God, and He will bless you the more. The Psalmist says, “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (103:1-2 NIV).

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

Quote for the Day 25Apr2009

Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem so small and little known?
It is great if God is in it,
And He’ll not forget His own.
- Suffield

Quote for the Day 24Apr2009

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad. - Denis Waitley

Quote for the Day 23Apr2009

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can,
In all the ways you can, in all the places you can,
At all times you can, to all the people you can,
As long as you can!
- John Wesley

Quote for the Day 22Apr2009

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. - Abraham Lincoln

Quote for the Day 21Apr2009

Why do you do what you do? Whose life are you affecting? Sometimes it is not our target audience that we impact most. Sometimes it is the bus drivers of the world. - Dave Branon

Quote for the Day 20Apr2009

Fear not! You will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated. Forget your past shame. For the Lord will extend your boundaries on all sides in Jesus' name. Amen. (adapted from Isaiah 54:3-4)

UNMARKED GRAVES

Dearly Beloved,

UNMARKED GRAVES

"How terrible for you! You are like unmarked graves which people walk on without knowing it" (Luke 11:44 TEV).

Gravesite is a place that most people would not want to move close to not to talk of walking through or walking on it. Therefore, gravesite is marked with designs and marks that will distinguish it from any other structure or place. It is interesting to discover that Jesus Christ compared the religious leaders of His days on earth to graves that were not marked that made people to move closer to them unsuspectingly. People would have maintained a distance from them if they knew their real identity. The main reason for the comparison of the religious leaders and unmasked graves is the hypocrisy of the leaders. They pretended to be religious while they were neither spiritual nor godly. People were looking at them as exemplary while they were misleading those people.

Many people today are also like those religious leaders. They are indeed religious, but they are far from being godly or Christlike. Outwardly, they claim to be Christians, but they are different inwardly. This causes the increased number of churches, especially in this part of the world, but the people that attend these churches almost everyday are not different from the people outside the church. At times they are worst than the people outside. They have the form of godliness, but their conduct contradicts the genuineness of their profession (see 2 Timothy 3:5). They are indeed unmarked graves!

Are you an unmarked grave? Are you really what you claim to be? Will people like to move closer to you if they know your real identity? You can deceive people with your acts of religiosity, but you cannot deceive the all-knowing God. He will reward you accordingly (see Matthew 7:21-23; Galatians 6:7).

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

Quote for the Day 18Apr2009

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. - Thomas Huxley

Quote for the Day 17Apr2009

The best ornament is Humility; The richest wealth is Wisdom; The strongest weapon is Patience; The best security is Faith; The best tonic is Laughter. - Debra C.

Quote for the Day 16Apr2009

Count your blessings-instead of your crosses;
Count your gains-instead of your losses;
Count your health-instead of your wealth;
Count on God-instead of yourself!
- Author Unknown

Quote for the Day 15Apr2009

Instill within my heart, dear Lord,
A deep desire to know Your Word,
I want to learn to hear Your voice
And always make Your will my choice. —D. De Haan

Quote for the Day 14Apr2009

Christ still lives. But many of us go from day to day as if He were still in the grave. How much better to look beyond the empty tomb to the One who can fill our lives with the power of His resurrection! - David C. Egner

Quote for the Day 13Apr2009

Although our Lord was crucified,
He rose up from the grave;
He paid our penalty for sin,
Then showed His power to save. - Sper

Quote for the Day 13Apr2009

Although our Lord was crucified,
He rose up from the grave;
He paid our penalty for sin,
Then showed His power to save. - Sper

Quote for the Day 12Apr2009

Without Jesus' resurrection, there would be no hope of heaven. Without the hope of heaven, there would be no repentance, no personal transformation, no attempt to follow biblical principles. Without Jesus' resurrection, the world would be in chaos and darkness. Jesus’ death and resurrection means we can be reborn, to live better, to do better, to shine light into the shadows. - Debra C.

Quote for the Day 11Apr2009

Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. Great faith must have great trials. - Charles H. Spurgeon

WHAT IS GOOD IN IT? (abridged)

Dear Beloved,

Some circumstances did not allow me to prepare the message I wanted to send out for next week. As an alternative, let me resend an abridged version of series of messages I once sent about the accomplishments of the atoning death of Jesus Christ as we celebrate the “Good Friday” today:

WHAT IS GOOD IN IT? (abridged)
(THE ATONING DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST)

"None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8, NIV).

I overheard a Muslim preacher one day accusing the Christians: "They call the day 'Good Friday.' What is good in it? What is good in a day they crucified their Savior? What is worthy of celebration in it?" I chuckled. What is good in the Good Friday? Why should we Christians celebrate such a "horrible" day - a day that our Savior and Lord was tried, sentenced to death by crucifixion, flogged, molested, crucified cruelly and eventually died? Non-Christians may not know, but every Christian knows what is good in it. If Satan and his cohorts knew that the day would turned to become a good day for Christians and anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord, they would do everything possible to hinder the event of the day from taking place.

What is good in the Good Friday? What is the significance of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross? This will lead us to the purpose of the first coming of Jesus Christ to the world: to SAVE people from their SIN (Matthew 1:21; John 1:20; Acts 3:26; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 3:5, 8; 4:9, 10). Jesus Christ accomplished this through His death on the cross (Romans 5:6,8; Hebrews 2:14-15; 10:5-10). This atoning death of Jesus Christ is related to our sins (redemption); it is toward God (propitiation), and at the same time toward man (reconciliation). In other words, Jesus Christ, through His atoning death, paid the price of man’ sin in order to remove the wrath of God and thereby reconcile man to God. There is no doubt that the day Jesus Christ accomplished all these is not only a good day, but one of the best days for Christians and everyone who accepts Him as his personal Savior and Lord.

However, is Jesus Christ’s death effective in your life? Have you been reconciled to God? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ so that His death will not be in vain over your life. Accept Him today as your personal Savior and Lord. You will experience the goodness of His death in your life!


In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

Note:
Send your comments and remarks on this message to me directly or copy me at spiritualdigest@yahoo.com. If you need the full study, let me know. God bless you!!!

Quote for the Day 09Apr2009

The will of God will never take you,
Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mould you.
- Author Unknown

Quote for the Day 08Apr2009

Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little. - Plutarch

Quote for the Day 07Apr2009

Are you overwhelmed? Do not lose sight of your priorities. Spend time with the Lord. He will lift your load and give you the right perspective. - Dave Branon

Quote for the Day 06Apr2009

Our inability to see beauty does not suggest in the slightest that beauty is not there. Rather, it suggests that we are not looking carefully enough or with broad enough perspective to see the beauty. - Rabbi Harold Kushner

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

Dearly Beloved,

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

“But God will rescue me; he will save me from the power of death” (Psalm 49:15 TEV).

The hymn, “It is Well with My Soul” is one of the most popular Christian hymns. Horatio Gates Spafford (1828–1888) composed it. When Spafford was forty-three years old as a Chicago businessman, he suffered financial disaster in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. He and his wife were still grieving over the death of their son shortly before the fire, and he realized they needed to get away for a vacation. Knowing that their friend Dwight L. Moody was going to be preaching in evangelistic campaigns in England that fall, Spafford decided to take the entire family to England. His wife and four daughters went ahead by a ship, and he planned to follow in a few days. Nevertheless, on the Atlantic Ocean, an iron sailing vessel struck the ship and the ship sank within twelve minutes. Two hundred and twenty-six lives were lost—including the Spaffords’ four daughters. When the survivors were brought to shore at Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Anna Spafford cabled her husband with two words: “Saved alone.” Spafford booked passage on the next ship. As they were crossing the Atlantic, the captain pointed out the place where he thought the first ship had gone down. That night, Spafford penned the words of the hymn: “When peace like a river attendeth my way. . . it is well, it is well with my soul.”

One of the close associates of Jesus Christ betrayed Him. He was arrested, tried and condemned to die on the cross. He was crucified and died. However, as the Psalmist prophesied in Psalm 49:15, God saved Him from the power of death, and He resurrected on the third day. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ were not pleasant, but He triumphed over everything. Today, His name is exalted above every other name “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11 NIV). Horatio and Anna Spafford later moved to Israel and became channels of God’s blessings to many people there. It was indeed well with their souls.

Trial, temptation, hardship, calamity, death of loved one, or anything that happens to us is not the end of the road. No matter what you may be passing through, the Lord will indeed rescue you from all of it and you will join Horatio Spafford to sincerely sing, “It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.” “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5 NIV).

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

Quote for the Day 04Apr2009

When life's problems are baffling, when you face some Red Sea impossibility, call upon the wonder-working God who upholds all things. And remember that with our almighty God, nothing is impossible. - Vernon C. Grounds

Quote for the Day 03Apr2009

People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, they make them. - George Bernard Shaw

Quote for the Day 02Apr2009

I never walk alone, Christ walks beside me,
He is the dearest Friend I’ve ever known;
With such a Friend to comfort and to guide me,
I never, no, I never walk alone. —Ackley
© 1952 The Rodeheaver Co.

Quote for the Day 01Apr2009

The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.
- Author Unknown